The Mutated Earth
by ewok-with-bird-flu
Summary: Post 'The Ark in Space', the 4th Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry check the earth for stability, to find those left behind on earth have survived the solar flare, though their existance is being threatened by a race of aliens.
1. Chapter 1

Earth

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane materialised on the earth. It was barren, nothing was growing, and there were almost no signs of life. The only features it had were great craters, some containing murk, or water, and high piles of rock. Feeble wind blew clouds of dust and chunks of crusty earth a few feet of the ground.

"Doesn't seem to be anything here." Harry said, looking about.

"What d'you expect after a solar flare? And anyway, all the humans are in the Arc." Sarah Jane replied.

"Well, it's 10 thousand years after the flare." Harry reasoned "And Noah was saying they'd left 'regressives' behind, and there was also a bunker under the surface of the earth, that one of the techies mentioned." Harry said, "He was saying he'd rather have tried his luck there than have been on the Arc."

"Would they've been able to survive in concrete bunkers?"

"I don't see why not," Harry said.

"Even if they did, wouldn't they all be dead by now? It has been 10 000 years."

"Just because they've been underground, it doesn't mean the race hasn't continued. You're a pretty sturdy bunch when you want to be." The Doctor said.

"Bit cold." Harry observed, buttoning up his overcoat.

"Maybe not in his case, then," The Doctor muttered, under his breath.

"Thought 'solar' implied heat." Harry said, glaring at him.

"The flares were thousands of years ago." Sarah Jane reminded him. Harry shrugged.

"Mountains?" The Doctor squinted at the horizon. "How do huge rocks just pile together like that on a planet with barely the wind power to carry a fly, and only stagnant water." He wondered to himself.

"We've always had mountains, Doctor. It's something to do with plates and volcanoes." Harry said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Yes, proper mountains are all due to plates of the crust pushing together and pushing them upwards, due to currents underneath. These, though… just huge rocks piled up…"

"Built, you mean?" Sarah Jane asked. "The people in the bunkers built them?"

"Or something else." The Doctor said, lightly, setting off towards the horizon.

"Doctor, What about the people on the Arc?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Tell them to wait."

"Why?"

"I don't know." He said, "And, Sarah, don't wander off." He said, as she turned.

"Alright. I was just looking around."

"Yes, and the last time you were 'looking around', you ended up being cryogenically frozen." The Doctor said, eyebrows raised. He left, and she returned to Harry.

"How do we get back up to the arc, d'you think?" Harry asked her. Sarah peered up into space, though all she could see was murky cloud.

"You don't still have the radio, do you, Sarah?"

"No.. I think the Doctor had it."

"Damn.. Where are you going?" Sarah had set off after the Doctor.

"We've got to get it back to contact Vira, Harry." She reasoned. Reluctantly, Harry followed her.

"D'you even know he's got it?"

"What?"

"The radio,"

"No." Sarah shrugged.

"What if there are Wirran here, eh? Or worse. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Harry, we cant just hang about waiting for the radio, can we? Or do you want to just try to yell and hope they'll hear you?" She said, and Harry scowled at her.

"Harry, would a solar flare cause mutations?" Sarah said, stopping.

"Shouldn't think much more that UV light does. Why?"

"Would it be strong enough to change a life form completely?"

"Shouldn't think so.. Just cause several cancers. Why?"

"There's a tentacle sticking out of that hole." Sarah pointed.

There was a shot, and Harry jumped, leaving his boot, now with a neat bullet hole through it.

"Bullets? Why would they be using bullets? If these are the-" Another shot went off, and she put her hands up. Their attackers hastily came out of their hiding places, and stood, their guns still pointed at Sarah Jane and Harry.

They resembled human beings, they had four limbs, a head, 2 eyes, but no obvious signs of ears, a nose or a mouth. Their fingers were longer, and didn't seem to have knuckles, though, they looked slimy, and seemed to have pores on them, or suckers, and were webbed lower down. Cut into their thick necks were gills, and they had thin, cloudy films over their eyes.

The guns lowered. A flap emerged from the face of one, a finely cut mouth, that would shut, air tight, preventing anything entering.

"Human," it said.

"From the Arc?" another asked.

"No. Not the man. She may."

"Warren, The sweeper," Another said, quietly.

They turned, and started hurrying, stooped, towards their holes. Sarah felt a barrel in her back, and realised she was meant to follow.

The holes dropped down into wide, but low tunnels. They followed the tunnel down a steep slope. They eased their way down, suckering themselves to the walls and floor and moving slower. Harry and Sarah Jane struggled slowly, putting their feet against either metal plated wall of the tunnel, and walking down, awkwardly.

The tunnel ended in the bunker, so did about 20 others, hundreds of the left humans were in the bunkers. The group that had brought them down moved away.

"Well, it's not only radiation.. It's evolution." Harry said. "There must be miles of tunnel that these poor chaps have to go through to get to the surface. No wonder they've grown suckers."

"Still doesn't explain the rock piles." Sarah pointed out.

"No. Couldn't it just be a hiding place?"

"Pretty rotten hiding place. If we can see it."

"We cant see what's hiding in it." Harry said.

"Well, the Doctor can find that one out. What d'you reckon the sweeper is?" Sarah wondered.

"No idea."

Sarah hugged her knees, and Harry joined her on the floor, his back to the concrete.

The bunker's inhabitants whispered to each other, then they fell silent. A loud hum could be heard, from above the surface. Thick metal, and concrete doors slid over the entrances. Sarah and Harry could see everyone closing their mouths and noses, and some of them even their eyes. The hum faded away. The doors opened, and through an opening at the other end of the bunker, a thick scarf dropped to the floor, followed by the Doctor, and two other mutations, both with guns. As the Doctor got up, he caught sight of Sarah Jane and Harry.

"I thought it might've been you." The Doctor said, coming over.

"Being shot at? Yes." Harry said.

"I suppose this means you didn't contact the Ark."

"You've got the radio." Harry said.

"And you didn't think to just go back into the beam of the matter transmitter? No, I suppose not."

---


	2. The Sweeper

The Sweeper

"Did you find anything, Doctor?" Sarah Jane asked him.

"Well, there's a reason the mountains are there. There's life inside them. A ship." The Doctor said, "And they're afraid of it.." He indicated the bunkers inhabitants. "I was about to have a look, when they shot at me. Brought me down here."

"Who's the new comer?" The one addressed as Warren asked the Doctor's escorts.

"Said he was The Doctor. We found him by the mountain range."

"Was he hostile, Drake?"

"No, but seemed to think he wasn't in danger." Drake replied.

"They mustn't know about the creatures." Warren said, "Unless.. he's one of them," he finished darkly.

"No, they've only been here a few hours, Warren. They wouldn't have been able to survive that long here without oxygen." Another said.

"The males are not from the Arc, they haven't been in the cryogenic chambers, the girl has though.. Why are they here, do you think, Warren?" Drake asked him.

Warren thought, and turned to the Doctor.

"You were sent from the Arc?"

"Not sent. We were checking the Earth's stability. Checking for life forms. You've been down here a very long time, Warren."

"Ten thousand years, Doctor. And the others?"

"Just companions." The Doctor shrugged.

"She's been in the cryogenic systems on the Arc." Warren noted.

"Sarah Jane? Yes. She got caught up in the system."

"They are awake, then, the Arc dwellers?"

"Vira is reviving them, yes."

"Vira? What about Noah?"

"Ahh. well, there was a little trouble, space wasps, anyway, he's dead, along with Rogin, Lycitt, and Libri."

"Killed?"

"By the Warrn. The space wasps."

"And they plan to return?"

"Yes, why?"

"Our ancestors were left behind to perish. We long to avenge them."

"Ah, well, I don't think you can do that." The Doctor said, slowly.

"How so? We have evolved, Doctor, we have grown strong through the decades, while they were sleeping we've become greater than they."

"Yes, I see. You mean to kill them?"

"If we must, Doctor. Their re-appearance on our planet could set our species back generations. We've grown immune to diseases, and we survive wind storms, and hurricanes and earth quakes. The Arc dwellers could only bring back epidemics from space. They are sterile now, but wont be for long. There are illnesses their med techs couldn't even dream about. They will either die, or be killed."

"By what?" The Doctor asked.

"By the creatures beneath the earth." Drake entered the conversation.

"You?" The Doctor asked him.

"Doctor, leave our planet. An electrical storm is due. Return to the Arc. Tell them they may not return here. If they try, they will be killed." Was Drake's reply.

"I'd rather stay here, if it's all the same to you."

"Leave." Drake shouted.

"There's something here, isn't there, Drake. Something you fear, something that wants you gone, something that checks up on you. Something that hides under the rocks that you hide from."

"This is not true, Doctor. How could you know our affairs."

"Why haven't you returned to the surface, eh?" The Doctor said, picking up pace, "You could have been up there for centuries by now, making it fertile, growing things, farming, living, not stuck under the muck. Who haven't you gone up? Why have you languished in the bowels of the planet, eh? Because you're afraid that something will pick you off like flies. Something threatens your survival, if you inhabit the surface, I just want to know what. What is it, Drake?"

"Leave us, Doctor!"

"You threaten your own people, you're afraid they will upset the balance between you and the jailors keeping you prisoner down here in these bunkers? You think they might force you upwards, is that it?"

"We like underground, Doctor. It's shelter from the storms and flares. Our people are safe here. We do not need to move. We live off the rats and plants left behind by the Arc people. They left us to die."

"But you didn't die! Cant you see, Drake? Their going left you to become stronger. And you want revenge on them for making you great?"

"Doctor, look out!" Sarah Jane yelled, as Drake swiftly lifted his gun to the Doctor's face, the barrel pressing against his nose. The Doctor crossed his eyes, examining the gun.

"That's not very high tech, is it, Drake?" He said, quietly. The rest of the bunker's inhabitants ignored the scene, as though they were used to it. They continued with their talking, cooking, and building.

"Drake, put it down, you fool." Warren hissed.

"Touchy fellows, aren't they." Harry whispered in Sarah Jane's ear.

Reluctantly, Drake lowered the gun, and the Doctor rubbed gunpowder off his nose.

"Right, now, would you like to tell me what's trying to take over your planet?" The Doctor asked, calmly.

"It will soon be safe for you to return to the surface, then you will leave us." Warren said, and took Drake's elbow, and steered him away for a chat.

Sarah Jane crouched down on her heels, staring at the ground.

"So that's it, is it?" Harry asked. "Back to the Arc? I suppose we wont get another look around." He sat down, examining the hole in his boot, and trying to re-tie the shredded laces.

The Doctor sighed, frustrated, and stalked off, pacing the perimeter of the bunker, running his knuckles along the walls, trying to find a gap, and trigger, something.

Sarah saw a thin wire running between her feet. At first she thought it was hair, or straw. She lifted it off the ground, and saw it ran around the perimeter of the bunker, and into the centre, where an observation panel was set up, showing images of the surface and outer atmosphere.

Sarah followed the wire, on her hands and knees, to where it disappeared into a socket in the concrete lining, next to a tube from the wall, where Sarah could see a chink of light, it evidently came vertically from the surface. She put her eye to the hole, when something dropped down. A bundle of wires and chips. It hovered in the gap, until Sarah, surprised, fell backwards. It propelled itself out of the tube, and Sarah snatched it. It stopped buzzing, and lay in her palm. She proded it with a finger, but it didn't respond.

Suddenly, Sarah heard a click, and looked up into a gun barrel.

"Put it down." The figure behind the gun said, quietly.

Sarah dropped it, and the other person picked it up, staring at Sarah, suspiciously, with pale eyes.

"Is that the sweeper?" Sarah asked them.

"Quiet."

"Thought you were hiding from it. You've got a gap. It can get in, in here, I mean." Sarah told the person. They pocketed the device. "Shouldn't you .. do something, tell someone?" She asked, and the figure spun round, and jabbed her in the shoulder with a needle. Sarah Jane collapsed, and the figure quickly and silently took her into a second chamber, via a pad in the floor, by the livestock pens.

"Doctor!" Harry ran up to the Doctor, "Doctor, we've lost Sarah Jane."

---


	3. The Underground

The Underground

The Doctor froze for a moment.

"She's not anywhere.. I mean.. the doors are still shut. D'you think something's happened? She's just gone." Harry said.

The Doctor spun around.

"You're sure?" He didn't wait for an answer. He quickly went over to Drake and Warren, who were examining the observation panel. "Where is Sarah?" He said. They didn't reply. "Where is she?" He shouted, thumping the console.

"Stray," Warren said, sounding both irritated and bored, "Answer him, will you." It wasn't a question, but Stray didn't seem to be offended. She lead the Doctor and Harry away from Warren and Drake who were talking in terse whispers.

"You must stay calm, Doctor. It wouldn't help anyone if Warren got upset."

"I've saved this petty little planet enough times, you'd think for once…" the Doctor muttered under his breath, glaring at their backs.

"Where's Sarah Jane, then?" Harry asked her, trying to be calm.

Stray lead them to a far corner, away from most of the people. A few stragglers hung about, listlessly, but moved as Stray and the newcomers approached them.

Stray began asking them if they'd seen her, and Harry looked around, trying not the think about what could have happened to Sarah.

The farther end, where they'd entered was busy, crowded, with the observation panel and console, where several officials were buzzing about, looking efficient. This end, however, smelt of rotting meat and dust. The right corner was a mess of straw bundles, and wood chippings, covering the wooden floor.

"Doctor, all these… people. They're all armed. All look like officials.. I mean, shouldn't there be any civilians?"

The Doctor paused, then spun around, catching Stray's passing arm.

"Where are all your civilians?" He asked, quickly.

"In a second bunker. There's a door way."

"Why don't we look in there, then?" Harry said, stating the obvious.

"Harry, where would we be without you." The Doctor muttered, dryly.

"I must check with Warren," Stray looked reluctant.

"Why Warren?"

"He's our leader."

"Leader? Appointed by whom, exactly?" The Doctor asked.

"Warren's ancestors lead us into the bunkers, saved our race, it's undisputed. We owe our survival to his family."

"Will human kind never learn? Just because his great great great great great great etcetera grandfather was a good man, Warren's character can still be suspect. Unfortunately, good qualities are not genetically passed down."

Stray didn't say anything.

"Follow me," she said after a pause, "but then, you will leave." She said, leading them to a virtually invisible panel in the floor.

The Doctor, Stray and Harry were lowered into the second bunker. Only the entrances had guards on them here, and, instead of hushed whispers the people were rowdy and busy, and more surprised to see them.

Harry peered about.

There were tall bunks lining the walls of the bunker, and an alcove on one of the longer sides of the rectangle, where Harry presumed the bathrooms were, and yet more signs of livestock.

"She's not here, Doctor," Harry said, gravely.

"No." The Doctor glanced around him.

"Doctor, you don't think something's happened to her?" Harry asked, anxiously.

"She can take care of herself," the Doctor said, swiftly, "Can you hear that?" He asked.

There was a faint hum, and a low scratching and rustling. Stray was flitting around the bunker, making inquiries. She didn't seem to notice anything.

"Funny thing is, though, we've seen all the signs of livestock without actually seeing anything.." The Doctor wondered.

"Could it just be another sweeper?" Harry suggested.

"Did the last sweeper shuffle and hiss?" The Doctor said, raising his eyebrows.

"Soon it will be safe to continue onto the surface," Stray entered the conversation, "But not yet."

"Why not yet, Stray? Drake and Warren were adamant there was nothing else here, weren't they? What are you hiding from?"

"Doctor, I cannot say. Only they knew what is happening." Stray admitted.

"Oh, honestly, wont you ever learn?" The Doctor snapped. "If something's being hidden from you, something that's delaying your development.. And you just accept it? Lie down?" The Doctor said, agitated. "You can find out, Stray. Look, listen."

"Warren is our leader, Doctor."

"Maybe so, but leaders can be wrong, can't they? And you'd just let him destroy you, wouldn't you?"

Harry had had enough of listening to the Doctor rant. He started off to make his own enquiries. He headed towards a bunk, who's inhabitants kept his eye, instead of shuffling away from him. The bunk contained a young man and woman. The woman looked edgy, but stayed put, catching the hand of the man.

"Hello," Harry said, unsure of how to start a conversation. "Um, I don't suppose you've seen someone in a yellow mac come by, have you?" he asked.

"No, who are you?" the man asked, not hostile.

"Harry Sullivan. That's the Doctor, and we cant find Sarah Jane, in the yellow mac."

"Have you come from the Arc?" the woman asked.

"Well.. yes, sortof. Just to check the earth was safe."

"And is it?"

"Well, we haven't seen much.. so, we don't know." Harry said, "Why, what do you know?" Harry asked.

"More than we should. I know there's some other form of life here. And Warren isn't telling us about it. Since it came, we've been driven underground again."

"Again?" Harry asked, curious.

"Yes. After the flares the earth recovered. We returned to the surface. I was born up there. But a few months ago, the mountains formed… Warren ordered us underground. And now only certain people go up. And there are sweepers that patrol the surface. Checking up on us. Imprisoning us."

"Doctor," Harry interrupted the Doctor's speech to Stray. "Doctor, I think you'd better hear this." Harry took them to the man and woman, who were still on their bunk.

"These people say they lived on the surface after the flare."

The Doctor looked inquiringly at them, and the man explained.

"After the flares, it was deemed safe for us. So.. Humans lived on the surface for a while. A few years, maybe, at most. It was mostly safe, but the bunkers were kept habitable and ventilated in case of more flares or solar storms. But then, a few months ago, firstly, the atmosphere for colder. Just a bit, but we noticed it." He said, looking towards the girl. She nodded. "And then slowly, we were moved back under. They didn't want to make it seem urgent, see? They told us that it was just precautions. That conditions were going to get too cold to live up there permanently, that radiation was too high, too much exposure to UV light, and things like that. Most people bought it. Why should we doubt it? But then.. The Sweepers started. We can hear them all the time, especially at night. For a while we all noticed them, but the officials told us it was just their equipment, checking status' and things. Routine. People have swallowed it." He ended with a shrug.

"You haven't." The Doctor noted.

"No." He said, simply. He stared at Stray, suspiciously. "She does, though." He said, pointedly. "In fact, she probably initialised it."

Stray snorted, rolled her eyes, and walked off.

"No, Doctor. I know there's something going on. Me and Thea," He said, indicating the girl, "We've been investigating. Us and some others."

"Janis, don't." Thea warned him. "You don't know him."

"He's not an official, he's not one of them, is he, Thea?"

"No, that's true. I wonder, Janis, how much do you think you know? Or rather, what _don't_ you know?" The Doctor asked.

"Why?" Thea asked, agitatedly.

"Because, whatever it is, it's clearly stunting you lot. You've become trembling wrecks over this. I'm going to get rid of it."

"Sayal has grouped together the information we've got."

"How many of you are in on this?" Harry asked.

"5. Me, Thea, Sayal, Kay, and Firen."

"How do you keep an underground movement quiet? Surely someone notices groups building up books on findings they shouldn't know existed?"

"Doctor, few people care. Like you said, they've given in to it. They refuse to accept that maybe they're being fooled. No one looks. The intelligence and soldiers and politics all take place upstairs in the main chamber anyway. We're only civilians." Janis shrugged.


	4. Findings

Findings

Sarah Jane tried to remain as floppy as possible as she was dropped on yet more concrete, at the same time trying not to land on her elbows. She had been half awake for a few minutes now, and she'd tried to memorise the route the figure had taken her on as much as possible, but there had been so many off shoots and passages she hoped she wouldn't need to remember them. The room was bare, and single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling provided a dim light, there was a stale smell of straw and what Sarah thought was some sort of animal.

The figure had left through a thick, sturdy door, leaving her on her own. She stood up, and skirted the walls, running her hands across the bases and as high as she could reach, which wasn't even half the height of the walls, but it made her feel less helpless. She didn't expect to find anything, and so moved back to the door.

Half heartedly she tried the handle, and longed for the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. Instead, she thought of picking the surprisingly small lock. She fished about for a paperclip in her pockets, and eased it into the lock. A pulse of electricity stung her fingers, and quickly, she pulled away. Right, so there was a current in somewhere. She tried looking for it, examining the floors, which had channels carved into them, but couldn't see any evidence of wire coming into or out of the room.

She cursed herself for getting lost, though, by now she'd travelled enough with the Doctor to realise that she was probably twice as use to him captured than with him. She carried on scuffing up straw, looking for ways out, and finally, she saw the outline of a square cut into the floor. About 2 centimetres thick on each side. Sarah pushed the thick block of concrete into the corner, leaving a doubly wide space for her fingers. She levered up the square, and saw the tunnel going straight downwards, but she could see it turned at a right angle about 10 metres down. The tunnel was wide, which came as a relief after the conduits in the Arc, where she'd got stuck several times.

Pushing her palms up on one side of the chute, and her back against the other, she eased herself down, to the change of direction. The tunnel became slimy and cold down here. The tunnel ended surprisingly early, and Sarah looked out, cautiously, not wanting to leap out into a trap. The large square room was empty, and cold. Condensation clouds followed Sarah's breathing as she came out of the tunnel. Sarah looked around, realising that this was the freezer. She tried not to look at the hanging corpses of large animals. Large channels were cut into this floor as well, to collect falling blood, and giblets. Sarah shuddered, and went to the door, which was unlocked.

The corridor she ended up in was wide and gently sloping upwards. Animals could hardly be expected to crawl miles of tunnel, she thought. There were few doors along this stretch of tunnel. Finally, Sarah came to a thick wooden door.

She put her ear to it, listening intently. She could hear general noise, nothing to suggest that anything was going on, and she debated weather just to try and open the door. But she wasn't sure what was on the other side. She didn't think she was back on the level of the first bunker yet, where the Doctor and Harry would hopefully still be. She tried to remember what she'd seen in the bunker. She hadn't seen a door, she was sure of it. This door was huge, far bigger than the largest of earth animals. She noticed that, along the walls, the channels still followed the corridors, and that they also went through the wall.

She, reluctantly, got into the tunnel, trying to breathe as shallowly as possible. Thankfully, it was only about a metre and a half in length, and she was almost out. She peered out, cautiously.

This bunker was similar to the first one. Except it was huge. About double the size of the first. In the centre was another panel, a hexagonal table, going into the ground, with screens showing the surface. She suddenly registered what she was seeing, she jumped in surprise, and backed into the tunnel, praying she hadn't been seen.

-

"Sayal," Janis lead the way across the bunker, to a sleeping figure, "He started all this." Janis nudged the tired looking woman. She sat up slowly.

"Janis?" She asked, "Is something the matter- Who's this?" She said, seeing the Doctor peering at her.

"Calls himself the Doctor." Janis said, and he turned and looked at the Doctor, meaningfully. The Doctor took the hint, and moved away.

"Janis, how much does he know?"

"He's on our side, Sayal. He knows that we shouldn't be down here, he wants to help." Janis explained.

"He's a plant," Thea said, darkly, glaring at Harry and the Doctor.

"I'm not, honestly." The Doctor said.

"Who are you?" Thea challenged them.

"I'm the Doctor, and that's Harry. Travellers. He's from earth." The Doctor indicated Harry.

"Why should we trust you?" Thea asked.

"Well, that's a fair point, but why would you trust Warren and Drake? Why would you trust your friend Janis here?"

Grudgingly, Thea looked away.

"Janis says you've got some information for us."

"Not much, really." Sayal said, apologetically, "Not as much as we'd like. We have to be careful, you see. There are people watching Firen, and Kay, they cant get much information without people getting suspicious."

"Where are they?"

"Kay is a scientist. She was measuring radiation. Of course, being a scientist, it was supposed to be her job to define unsafe levels of radiation, and she says the atmosphere is safe, we could have stayed up there. That's what first set off the alarm bells."

"Oh yes?"

"And then Firen, he's with the army, the patrols. Guards the first bunker. The sweepers check up on all of them. Scientists, guards, Drake, Warren, all of them. Checks them all. Says they even scan brains occasionally."

"And you think there's something else here, forcing Warren's hand?"

"Doctor, Warren has been a very good leader to us. He initiated the move to the surface, he ensured our safety. Something must have happened to make him go back on all his plans for our race, and it isn't just radiation levels." Sayal said, grimly.

"Have you got any evidence of this?"

"Nothing solid.. Kay says there's evidence in the water that something's in there, breathing the oxygen from the water. Water contains oxygen, normally, the oxygen from the air balances the amount breathed by fish and so on, but because there's low levels here, there's an oxygen debt gathering slowly in the water.. but Kay says she cant prove it's something that shouldn't be there.. maybe it is just fish."

"After a solar flare?" Harry asked, dubiously.

"Harry, the flare was 10 thousand years ago." The Doctor pointed out.

"And there's tracks… we think. Firen says there's large channels cut all over the surface. Deep ones. He doesn't think they can be natural, caused by wind, they're too deep for that." Janis said.

"We've got some photographs.." Sayal said, looking about, briefly, then, she casually drew back the lumpy mattress, and brought out a wooden box.

"Don't people get suspicious of someone hiding a box under there?" The Doctor asked, dryly.

"Oh, no, Doctor. Everyone has their personal possessions down here, where else should we keep mementoes of the surface, the sun, green plants, family histories, books, pictures? These are mine." Sayal said, quickly. She opened the box using a key on a chain around her neck, she took out 5 poorly lit, bad quality photographs, of what looked like just the ground, like photos you'd taken by accident when carrying the camera.

She handed them to the Doctor. He looked at them closely, and saw the deeply cut ditches in the ground, uneven but smooth, as though made by some sort of snake, or reptile. Possibly water.

"Thing is, Doctor, they lead from and to bodies of water, but they don't fill up themselves.. The lakes should overspill into them, but they don't. Kay has asked to investigate the water, but Warren wont let her.. They've stopped virtually all of the scientific work. Kay does nothing but check the skies now. Weather predictions and things." Sayal sighed.

"What d'you make of it all?" Janis asked, hopefully.. "Anything?"

"I'd like to look at them properly. D'you think I can get to the surface without the armed escorts?"

"We'll talk to Firen, He'll be able to do something." Janis said.

---


	5. Monsters

**Disclaimer: **Doctor Who belongs to the BBC.

Monsters

They were the classic sort of evil, the kind she'd seen on telly and in books when she was a kid, the kind you could tell were evil just by looking at them, they made her shiver. Rough and scaly, with large jaws, teeth showing through their lips, and claws, their skin was brownish, as if to camouflage themselves on the earth's surface. Somehow, though, they seemed vaguely human, possibly more so than the mutations. They had clear eyes, and sharp senses of smell and vision.

Sarah backed up the short tunnel, and stood up as quickly as possible. She leant against the heavy door, and wondered what she should do. She could hardly go back, and she hadn't seen any other passages on her route that would take her somewhere else.

Suddenly, the decision was made for her. She hadn't seen it come, though she must've been looking right at it, but one of the creatures was right in front of her, some sort of space gun trained on her forehead.

Sarah tried to remember the figure that had taken her the last time. She'd thought it was just one of the human mutations, but now she realised it had been one of these. Dark and thin, tall, human looking. She supposed it wasn't that hard for one of these to pose as a mutation for short times.

The creature pushed the door open, and motioned for Sarah to go through. She walked backwards into the room, and was backed into a corner.

"Who is she, Kilburn?" One asked Sarah's kidnapper.

"Get Terral. He will wish to see her." He replied.

Soon, Terral, clearly the leader, stalked over.

"Is this the girl you let slip?" Terral asked Kilburn, scornfully.

"Yes, sir." Kilburn admitted.

"It seems we've underestimated you, my dear." Terral addressed Sarah. "I heard of your role in saving the Arc from the Wirrn, although I'd assumed that was foolishness more than bravery." He smiled, sickeningly.

"You've made an alliance with the Wirrn?" She asked.

"Yes. They were to destroy any threat from the Arc dwellers, though they failed. It does not matter. We shall destroy the other humans when they return. The Wirrn shall feast on their corpses, and we shall get the resources from this little planet. Now, tell me, what is your business here?" He asked.

Sarah didn't reply.

"Are you alone?" He tried again, his smile becoming a scowl, "Answer me."

Sarah didn't know what to say. If she said she was alone, they would probably kill her without a qualm, but if she said she wasn't then she may be kept alive as an insurance policy, a way of forcing the Doctor's hand, but that would put the Doctor and Harry at more risk. She stayed silent.

"Yarl," Teral addressed another creature, a much smaller one, also armed with a gun trained on her, "Yarl, take her to a cell, and stay with her, do not let her escape, or you will also be killed." Teral pulled a gun from his belt, and shot Kilburn, her first guard, through the head. He turned to another, "Take his body to the Wirrn swarm leader, he will house their young and feed them until we can give them humans."

-

Janis made his way over to a panel set in the floor. It moved upwards, taking him through the ceiling of the bunker.

"Is he allowed to do that, then?" Harry asked.

"Janis? They let him do what he likes. Strictly speaking, he's our Prime Minister." Thea said.

"Oh? You said Warren was your leader."

"Yes. Warren's ancestor was the leader of the armies, he acted as emergency leader in the last days, when we were left behind by the Arc people, so he's viewed as leader. But the Earth High Minister, as her title was, refused to go on the Arc, and so, at least by Arc records, she basically abdicated. They viewed it as suicide, and ridded her of her duties. But down here, she's still a hero. Janis is her descendant, therefore he's the High Minister, as we've not had an election since we went underground." Thea said.

"So why hasn't Warren tried to have him killed yet?" The Doctor wondered aloud.

"He has. He's seen as a threat to Warren, so at least once a month, they say, as leader, he should go to the surface, and normally he comes back from a gas attack, or with broken bones. He's got the backing of the people, you see. People roughly know what he wants, that is, to get back to the surface. We'd all do anything to get back out there. Anyway, even if they did kill him, they wouldn't get rid of the threat."

"You'd carry it on?" The Doctor asked, quietly.

"I'd have to."

The Doctor continued to look through the box, until he came across a photograph along with birth certificate, of a young man.

"Yale's file." Sayal said, quietly.

"Yale?"

"Also in the patrols. 3 months ago, he was pronounced missing, presumed dead. After a sand and wind storm." Sayal said, sadly. The Doctor found a death certificate underneath more papers.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said, apologetically, looking closely at Thea, who refused to meet his eye, staring at the floor.

"Doctor, what about Sarah?" Harry asked, agitatedly, when the pause became too long for him to bear.

"Harry, to my knowledge, Sarah doesn't get lost deliberately, does she? No, I'm guessing, we find what's trying to destroy the human race, and we find her." The Doctor reasoned.

"Wish it wouldn't take so long, though." Harry said, frustrated.

Janis sprinted over.

"Come with me. We can get you up there. Just us and Firen. I couldn't see your friend up there, I'm afraid, but Thea and Sayal'll ask about for you." Janis said, quickly, leading them over to the panel.

-

Yarl took Sarah Jane's elbow, and lead her through the bunker, down a thin passage way, leading parallel to the wide one she'd come up. He took her into a cell, similar to the first one she's been in, though one wall was barred rather than solid brick. Yarl locked the door behind them, and sat on a low bench that lined one wall. Sarah sat opposite, on a hay bale. Yarl lowered his gun, and laid it across his lap, he put his elbows on his knees, and cupped his chin in his hands, staring closely at Sarah.

"You cant be from the Arc," He said, after a while.

"Why?"

"The yellow mac. It's hardly their uniform, is it?"

"Doesn't mean anything. You're smaller than all of them, no one's questioning weather you're an alien." She shrugged. He just smiled at her, smugly.

-

Warren eyed Janis's party with suspicion. They worried him. He was sure they knew more than they should, and he didn't think the Doctor was the sort of person to sit on his hands, if he found out something hidden. And he'd be risking the survival of the human race.

Warren beckoned to Drake.

"Should I send a sniper, sir?" Drake asked, quietly.

Warren nodded, looking apologetically, as Janis lead the Doctor, Harry into the tunnel. Firen stood at the opening, watching Drake and Warren. He knew what the orders would be. He ducked inside the entrance, and closed the door.

"Janis, he's sending a sniper." He said, quietly.

"We can avoid him," Janis shrugged the news off, evidently used to attempts at killing him.

Slowly they made their way up miles of tunnels. Fired lead the way, moving much faster than Janis. Firen, the Doctor realised, was much more used to travelling by the tunnels, being a patroller. Janis came up to the surface rarely, and normal civilians only came up when it was deemed safe, only for them to be driven back under a few months later. Janis' fingers were shorter, lighter, less tentacle-like, much more used to holding a pencil than a gun, also, Janis, as had Thea and Sayal, and many of the other civilians, had less obvious defects, and, now he looked, he saw they had no gills at all, and clearer features. In fact, they didn't look much different from the people on the Arc at all. They were lower underground, he realised. Less prone to damage from radiation and Ultraviolet waves, causing mutations in the cells.

Finally, they reached the surface. Firen pushed up a surprisingly simple and unimpressive trap door. He pushed the gun up, and peered out, checking the coast was clear. What he was expecting to see wasn't clear.

"D'you think he knows there's something up there?" Harry asked the Doctor, quietly.

"Evidently. Weather it's a sniper, monster or windstorm, he knows there's something up. It is his job, after all." The Doctor replied.

Firen hoisted himself up out of the tunnel, and helped Janis out, into the open.

"Thanks, keep an eye out for.. anything." Janis said. He had an uneasy feeling that today something would happen. Not just another assassination attempt, they didn't worry him. He sensed that the Doctor would be able to uncover something, more than any normal expedition to the surface could, he seemed to know what he was doing, anyway.

The Doctor went over to one of the channels. It was easily deep enough to be filled with water, but it was dry and dusty. He climbed down into the ditch, and started scuffing the sand up, digging with his hands, sonicking patches of the ground with the sonic screwdriver, trying to reveal anything that could give him a clue as to what they were dealing with.

"Doctor?" Harry joined him in the ditch, "What're you doing?"

"Looking for traces," he said, distractedly.

"Of what?"

"Anything!"

-

"He knows, Sayal, he knows something's up!" Thea whispered, panicky.

"Does it matter? He wont do anything to put his friend Sarah in danger, we're safe.."

"What do we do, then? D'you.. Do we bring him back, then?" Thea asked, hesitantly

"Yes.." Sayal replied, shortly.

---


	6. Rescue

**Disclaimer: **Doctor Who belongs to the BBC.

Rescue

"Thought the Wirrn were all destroyed. Noah made sure of that, the ship blew up, with all of them on board." Sarah said, standing by the bars of the cell, talking to Teral. Yarl was still sitting, his gun across his lap.

"Only one swarm was laid in the Arc. One Wirrn laid her eggs, the Wirrn you destroyed. A second swarm has been preparing itself, and a third is laid, lying dormant in the bodies of men. Living meat. So much better for growing larvae." Teral said, enjoying seeing Sarah grimace at the image. "Unfortunately, as they were forced to lay their eggs in the humans left behind on this planet, they are less intelligent than we had hoped, but they have their uses." Teral said, dramatically.

Sarah rolled her eyes, why did villains always love monologueing.

"Now, where is the Doctor?" He said, briskly.

"Who?" Sarah asked.

"Miss, you know perfectly well who. The Time Lord who you arrived on the Arc with, who defeated the Wirrn."

"Oh, him, he went. Left me here," Sarah shrugged, as naturally as possible. "I'm human, after all."

"Send the sweepers out, check for all signs of non-human life on this planet!" Teral barked at a couple of his body guards, who left with him, as he stalked off down the corridor.

Sarah scowled at him, watching him leave. She could see no other guards except Yarl, who didn't seem that interested in guarding her. She could just see down the corridor, to a door way.

She blinked, as she saw a panel in the wall shift slightly. There was a glow from a machine seeping through gaps in it. And then the panel moved completely. The slab was pushed out, and leaned against the wall. 2 people crawled out. The first, tall and blonde, ran up the corridor, checking for guards, the second, the younger, waited by the hole in the wall. A rescue attempt? or a lynch mob?

"It's clear, wait here," The first said, running silently down the corridor, to Sarah. "Sarah Jane Smith?" She asked Sarah.

"Er, yes," Sarah said, bemused.

"Yale, come on, keys!" She said to Yarl.

Yarl, or Yale, as he now was, jumped up, pulling the keys off his belt, and passing them through to her.

She unlocked the door.

"In you go," the woman said, as the first girl clambered into the chute. Sarah followed her, and crawled about 2 metres until the thin tunnel opened out, into a much wider stair case.

She moved out of the way as the woman followed her through, and finally, Yale.

Yale sighed, and removed a mask. Sarah couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed at the simplicity of the disguise. Just a big mask, and painted skin over the rest of his body.

"This way," He said, and lead the way up the stairs.

-

Harry was angry. Sarah Jane had been missing for hours, and the Doctor was perfectly calmly digging a hole. Harry had been instructed to do the same, but he was fed up.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" He asked. The Doctor ignored him. "We already know where these things are, the mountains! Why aren't we going there? Why are we just hanging about here?"

"Harry, I don't know about you, but I like to know what I'm about to encounter before I walk into it's lair and wake it up. It gives me comfort to know how to survive its fierce and bloody attack." The Doctor said, still not looking up.

"Well, have you found anything?" Harry asked, impatiently.

"Not yet, no." The Doctor replied shortly, wondering, not for the first time, why he didn't just leave Harry on some deadly, carnivorous planet somewhere in deep space.

-

"Have you seen the Doctor?" Sarah asked them, as they went quickly up the stairs.

"Yes. He's gone up to the surface." The woman stopped running. "I'm Sayal, this is Thea, and Yale," She introduced herself.

"And Harry?"

"Yes. Listen, we haven't really got time for this."

"And he's a spy?"

"Yes, I suppose that's what you'd call him," Sayal said, "Now, come _on._" They went up the stairs. They seemed, to Sarah, to go on forever. Finally, they flattened out, leading up to a trap door. Yale pushed it up with his shoulder. He peered out.

"Up you go, then," He said, and Thea and Sayal clambered out. Sarah Jane followed. Yale hung about.

"Aren't you coming?" She asked him. He hesitated. "You cant go back now. They'll either know you helped me, or kill you for incompetence," She reasoned. Yale climbed up.

They were up on the surface now. There was still no signs of life, though Sarah didn't know what she'd been expecting. Just because _she'd_ met the monsters, didn't mean they'd all come crawling out the woodwork just for her. But that didn't mean she'd be allowed to live, they were bound to send out a search party. They were in the shadows of the mountains. She could feel the vibrations of machinery through her Wellington boots. And the hum was so loud, she was amazed no one had realised there was anything hidden there before.

Yale let the trap door down, and stamped it back in place.

"We've got to find Janis. The Doctor's with him. This way," Sayal set off, Yale following close behind. That just left Thea, who'd not said anything.

"So, what is this, then? Government Stuff?" She began. Sarah realised she'd probably missed all the important information about the planet that she'd need to understand anything that was going on. She didn't want to be another example of human ignorance for the Doctor to sneer at.

Thea snorted. "Hardly. There is no government. It was disbanded when the High Minister was sacked. We've got the head of the Army acting as some sort of leader. But, since there is no government, basically, Janis is seen as some sort of High Minister, he's the only living descendant of the last one, any way. So, I'd be careful, if I were you. There's probably a couple of snipers about if he's up here."

"They often try to kill him, do they?"

"Oh yeah. So be careful where you put your feet." Thea said, casually. "And watch out for land mines, and gas attacks. Maybe even the odd jackal." They continued walking. "There's only 6 of us in on this stuff. For some reason, most people don't really care. But we used to live up here a few months ago, and then we were just told to move back under. And no one thinks that's a bit odd. Warren claims it's dangerous, risks of flares, radiation and stuff, but it's all rubbish. He's scared of something out here. No prizes for guessing what, though."

"How long've you known about them?" Sarah asked, meaning the aliens.

"Not very. As soon as we found out about them, Yale went in. We were trying to find out more about them, but nothing so far. No one'll tell him why they're there, apart from just to eat and use the planet's resources, and he cant gather anything about _what_ they are, their race memories, how advanced and stuff. It's been pretty useless him being there, actually. He's just a body guard for their big cheese."

-

"Ahah!" The Doctor said, triumphantly scraping sand away from a patch of ground. He fished his bit of wire out of one of his large pockets, and scraped up the membrane.

"More membrane? Like the Wirrn eggs?" Harry asked, unimpressed.

"No. Far thinner than that, Harry." The Doctor said, examining it, closely. It was a slip of thin, milky white, partially opaque skin. "I think something like this was depicted in a film once. A man who could turn himself into liquid, that is."

"What? That's ridiculous!"

"And yet, here it is. Evidence. Species can learn to do anything to get them out of a tight spot. It leaves behind a residue, when this creature turns itself into liquid, it needs something to keep it together, otherwise it would lose limbs on the journey, so, it secretes this thin membrane that keeps it in one piece. Quite ingenious." The Doctor admired it, appreciatively.

"Wonderful." Harry said, sarcastically, "So, we're going to have to rescue Sarah from a monster that'll turn into water at a moments notice? That's just-"

"Yes, it is." The Doctor interrupted Harry, "Sarah doesn't need rescuing, she's right behind you."

Harry spun around. It was a bit of an exaggeration, but Harry could make out, through heat hazes and clouds of dust, 4 figures tramping towards them. Though, he had to admit, the yellow mackintosh was hard to miss.

"This is rare, though.. I've seen only, what, 3 species who could even _dream _of this kind of shape shifting. Changing colours is easy, skins even, but _elements?_" The Doctor said, getting excited. "Of course, it's not really water, it's a mix of enzymes and proteins, sugars, water, the building blocks of life, only.. liquefied."

Harry grimaced, and sat down, heavily. "I think I'm going to be sick," he muttered.

There was a shout, and Sarah, Thea and Sayal came tumbling into the ditch.

"Wotcher, Harry," Sarah said, brightly. A shot rang out, and the Doctor stood up, furious, as Yale and Firen jumped down into the ditch too.

"What did you do that for!" The Doctor shouted.

"Stun-gun," Firen explained, and tossed the gun to the floor, at his feet. "We've taken his gun, he'll wake up soon, and go back underground."

The Doctor grudgingly agreed, and turned to Yale.

"You must be Yale, nice to meet you, and Sarah, good to have you back, where did you get to?"

"Nowhere much. A cell, a deep freeze, endless tunnels. Someone stuck a needle in me. I got away, but then.. didn't."

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. They were very civil, actually. Doctor, they know what was going on in the Arc. Their top bloke, Teral, said there are more Wirrn alive, ready to help them."

"More Wirrn? Shouldn't we warn Vira?" Harry said, quickly.

"What's that, Doctor?" Sarah asked, indicating the membrane the Doctor was holding.

"Liquid monster, apparently," Harry said, and the Doctor shot him a filthy look.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"The Doctor thinks something can turn itself into liquid to get about.. without being seen, I suppose."

"That makes sense. Or at least, that'd explain why I couldn't see him until he was right in front of me."

"You've met one of them?"

"Yeah, they didn't say who they were, though. Only that they were working with the Wirrn. And that they've used some of the humans down here to lay their eggs in."

"Has anyone gone missing recently?"

"No, not very recently. We did have a whole squad go missing, that wasn't explained. But that was months ago."

"Then they must have housed the Wirrn swarm. Janis, has any one group of people been up here more recently?"

"Yeah, there was a group up 2 days ago, they got stranded in a sand storm. They're in isolation, got fever and keep vomiting. D'you think they've got eggs.. _inside_ them?"

"Yes, I do." The Doctor interrupted Janis. "We need to get to them, fast."

---


End file.
